The talking points about the squad that Craig Levein were that Barry Bannan had been left out due to the fact that he had been arrested for drink driving. The other main point was that Jordan Rhodes had been included in the squad. He qualified to play due to the fact that he was educated in Scotland for more than 5 years.

The first real chance of the match came after 20 minutes when McGregor touched a shot onto the crossbar. Five minutes later it was first blood to Scotland. Berra played a long pass to Miller from deep inside the Scotland half. Miller controlled the ball before hitting a looping ball over the keeper into the top corner. A few minutes later Cyprus come close to equalising when a rocketing shot comes back off McGregor's left hand post. Jamie Mackie then goes on an amazing run which ends in their keeper touching his shot over the bar. From the resulting corner, a Cypriot handled the ball in the box but the ref waved play on. Just before half time, James Morrison tries to chip the keeper, but his shot is tipped over. Ten minutes into the second half Mackie picks up the ball wide on the left before he weaves past the defenders and hits a low shot past the keeper to double Scotland's lead. Three minutes later Cyprus pull one back, when a low pass is played through the Scotland defence to Christofi on the right, who drilled a low shot past McGregor. With three minutes remaining, Rhodes came on for his debut, and had a shot saved. Scotland saw out the game to get a 2-1 victory to take back to Scotland.